Sooo bloated!

I've done quite a few IVF cycles now, and I have never been sooo bloated. I am not kidding when I say that I look 4-5 months pregnant. I feel ok, but the bloating is getting really annoying. I am drinking fluids like they instructed me to, eating salty foods. Actually, tired of eating junk and don't want gain weight from eating bad... like potato chips and french fries!! Well, actually I haven't been eating either of those...trying to think of healthier salty alternatives.

Is this bloating normal?? When will the bloating go down? I know it hasn't even been a week. I am trying to be patient, but this is seriously bad bloating.

It's interesting because my previous RE would put you on a fluid restriction of about 1 liter/day to prevent OHHS and instructed to only drink gatorade or propel (no water or other fluids). But everywhere else says drink a lot of fluids. So crazy about the huge difference in opinions there. I never had a problem with bloating at my previous RE. I just want this to go away!!!

Day 4: Grow embies!! Grow!!

Everyday since fertilization report I've been thinking of our embabies and where they should be at with development. Hoping a good number of them are growing strong. I love this diagram of the embryo development.... grow embies!! Grow!!

We're home!

We arrived home yesterday evening, it's nice to be home :) I was pretty happy all day considering we had a better fertilization report than we've ever had and we have so many embryos. But now the worry sets in....all of our past failures haunt me. We've had moments like this where it seems like the cycle is going perfect and most of the time it has not ended well.

I keep thinking about what Dr Schoolcraft said about >20 eggs can not be a good thing. Hoping that even though we did have a lot of eggs, somehow we'll still get good results. Hoping the lab and supplements I took make a difference for us. One thing I do think is that it was better for my egg quality to be on less total stimm drugs than my previous cycle where we got lots of eggs. For the MDL cycle, I was on 4,050 units of FSH in addition to the LH that the MDL causes you body to make as well. In previous cycles we've had better quality embryos (and one success) and been on less total amounts of stimm drugs...about 3,000 U total. With my CCRM cycle, I was on 2,700 U of drugs. Not sure if this makes a difference, but I really think my eggs were just fried for my last cycle....it was just way too aggressive. I guess, I am just trying to think of anything that may help us get better results for Thursday... I keep thinking about our last cycle..we were sooooo happy to have 12 fertilized eggs and then they were all crappy quality on day 5 except ONE (out of TWELVE). If we have the same results, we may have TWO good ones for CCS testing!!

I keep reminding myself we are at the best lab in the US... and I've been searching for stories where ladies have had >20 eggs retrieved and still had amazing results at CCRM. These stories give me so much hope.

Fertilization Report is in!!

Just got our fertilization report! Much better than my previous results!! 30 eggs, 27 mature, 19 fertilized!!! We've never had such good fertilization... our best being at 60%. They will call on Thursday with the day 6 results... the embryologist said that at least 30% should make it to blast, but hopefully more!! So far this is the best results we've ever had!! Hoping for some good quality blasts for biopsy. We're cautiously optimistic!

Egg Retrieval Update

We had 30 eggs retrieved today! I'm worried about having so many since Dr Schoolcraft told us that >20 eggs can compromise quality. I am not sure why I got soo many eggs this time. If you look at my history with the long lupron cycle, I usually got around 17 total. My most recent failed IVF cycle we did an aggressive protocol called MDL and we got 28 eggs. I was not on an agressive protocol this time, although I did start out with an aggressive dose. I wonder if the saizen contributed to my over response! And my nurse not giving me the correct insruction to drop my dose! Hopefully the saizen will help the quality, and the lab, and the supplements I took. Ughh! Hoping we end up with some good quality eggs/embryos. My E2 was 4800 yesterday.. I'm guessing around 20 mature eggs? John the embryologist said we'll hear mid morning regarding our fert report.... with so many eggs I am not as worried about this report but more worried about getting a good number of quality blasts.

Last time when we had 28 eggs, 20 were mature 12 fertilized and we only had ONE perfect blast (and it was still BFN). The rest were all crap. But of course this was at different lab. Please pray for our fert report and embryos!! Thanks for all of your comments, thoughts and prayers!!

Trigger tonight!!

I will trigger tonight at 10pm! Egg retrieval is set for 9am on Friday!!

Here's my follicle counts for this mornings ultrasound:

Left:20,19,19,18,18,17,17,17 (these are the largest of 14-16 follicles on this side)
Right:19,18,18,18,16,16,15 (these are the largest of 12-14 follicles on this side)

E2 is 4154 (from 3800 yesterday)

Stim Day 9 Update

I finally heard from the nurse it was about 6pm! She said my estrogen levels are high (3800) and they want me to take luveris (LH only) tonight, so I had to quickly drive to the clinic to go get some. They said this will nurture the follicles but not increase my E2 so much like gonal f or menopur which also has some FSH. She said my follicles would die without it (since I am coasting)! They also said they want me to do a freeze all, but we are already planning on that anyway. I have an u/s and bloodwork tomorrow. I may or may not trigger tomorrow???